LEC picks back up with some promising matchups: FNC get a freebie against Astralis, while Schalke look to prove their legitimacy against Rogue after the former took down G2. MAD and SK try to secure their mid tier positions, while XL and MSF look to do the same. Meanwhile, G2 looks to find their ground against VIT. Let’s get into the picks.

Captain

Hans Sama ($11,700)

Hans is expensive, but relative to what you’d be paying for Upset or Rekkles, you’re getting a premium: Hans has the highest ADC KDA in the league, and the 2nd highest overall. Realistically, you have two realistic options for captain in my mind: you can either bank on ADC KDA and run Hans, or you can top out with Larssen and save a little bit more money at the expense of more volatility; ADCs are guaranteed to get excellent KDAs, but mid laners have a higher degree of agency, but in the downside, they may get hit with a Galio pick or a similar engage-y tank. I like Hans since he has a great KDA, he plays safe, and he lets us pick up a trifecta of great players later on: but if you want another mid laner, get Larssen, no shame.

Alternatives to consider: Larssen ($11,100)

Top Lane

Odoamne ($6,400)

Odo has really been making a case for #1 this split so far: his CSDs are fantastic, he has the highest KDA out of all top laners, and even when he gets hit with the rougher match-ups (Malphite vs Jayce) he still maintains his composure, dodges jungle aggression, and comes out on top. Broken Blade popped off against G2, but I don’t think we’ll be seeing a relatively mediocre pick like Kled come out for Odo, or maybe we won’t even see the Aatrox from Broken Blade at all; either way, keep your eyes on the prize. Odo looks insane and he’s the most solid top laner on the day to pick up. If you really want to lowball, you could pick up Kryze; he’s been having a solid split and I don’t think Misfits’ top lane situation has been overly remarkable.

Alternatives to consider: Kryze ($6,000)

Jungle

Inspired ($6,400)

The more Rogue the better. While Gilius had a pretty good time against Jankos, Inspired is a slightly different sort of jungler: Jankos is a very lane focused jungler, and Inspired certainly is too, but the pace that Larssen and Inspired play at is a bit higher than Caps and Jankos, and that boost of proactivity is likely enough to topple Abbe and Gilius: the G2 2v2 enough was nearly enough. In addition, Rekkles is known to be a player who’s more than willing to chill out through the laning phase, whereas Trymbi and Hans often find plays for themselves and their jungler. Inspired should be set up for success against S04, succeeding where G2 failed. If you want a different option, I think Selfmade will not necessarily smash Zanzarah, but he will definitely smash his laners.

Alternatives to consider: Selfmade ($7,400)

Mid Lane

Larssen ($7,400)

Rogue players are crazy cheap despite being 5-0 and likely the best team in the league. S04 had a crushing upset over G2, but I still don’t think they’re there yet: definitely a good team, but nothing insane. Abbedagge has actually been playing really solid, and is well within my top 5 mid laners in LEC right now. That being said, Larssen is a bit of a different beast. Abbe is waaay more passive relative to Larssen, and while Larssen knows when to play safe, he really brings the heat and is a superstar laner; Abbe will handshake with you, whereas Larssen doesn’t need to kill you: he’ll just break your fingers and go 30 cs up in lane. If you chose Larssen as your captain, snag Caps here, who should fare well into Milica who has been looking off his game as of late.

Alternatives to consider: Caps ($8,200)

ADC

Rekkles ($8,400)

Noone else: despite G2 falling to S04, I really think it’s just a goredrinker gap. That Aatrox did not look legal at all. Sure, Rekkles looked underwhelming, but he was by no means bad or anywhere close to the reason why G2 lost: Aatrox snowballed and stole the win; and while Rekkles has had his KDA crown snatched by Hans, he’s still 2nd highest in the role, and likely an overall superior ADC. Don’t sleep on Rekkles due to one flub, he can easily pick up his ground against VIT, for certain. If Rekkles isn’t the one for you, either grab Hans if Larssen is your captain, or pick up Upset who gets to play against Astralis.

Alternatives to consider: Upset ($8,000)

Support

Vander ($5,200)

Between all of the supports in the league, I thought Vander had a bit of a hard time last week, but match-up wise, I really wouldn’t want anyone else. Hyli is a good choice, but he’s really flippy and prone to dying over and over again. Kaiser and Treatz are in bad match-ups, and Mikyx is expensive. From my view point, you have two realistic options: the KDA player Vander (sorry, but…) or Trymbi, the young Rogue support who’s been playing pretty solid; although, he costs a critical Rogue spot that you’d miss out on elsewhere. I like both of them, pick whichever one you favor: although, I think Tore has looked a lot weaker than LIMIT, so I favor Vander.

Alternatives to consider: Trymbi ($5,000)

Team

SK Gaming ($4,200)

While this is a sack pick, I really don’t think MAD is good. They very narrowly grasped victory against a FNC that threw the game into the gutter, Carzzy has not looked great, and the team is just up and down overall. Even Humanoid has lost his consistency. I think SK Gaming, and SK members in general have extremely high value; the 2nd highest after Rogue. Don’t sleep on these guys, their roster is actually quite talented, and while I want to see more before recommending players, I feel comfortable picking up their team on the cheap since they’ve impressed me so far. If you have the cash left, grab FNC who gets to crush Astralis next.

Alternatives to consider: Astralis ($5,400)

Stacks

Hans Sama & Larssen

#1 and #2 KDAs in the league, amazing CSDs, these guys have it all. Caps and Rekkles come later, but between these two, I think Larssen has been playing at a higher level than Caps even, who has been a bit on the slower side this season. Rekkles is still on top, but Hans is showing that he’s still the shining star he was on the early to mid Misfits days. I think these two will be the ones to “inherit the league” so to speak. When Rekkles and Caps finally step down, these two will take their place.

Rekkles & Caps

...but until then, they’ll just have to be content living in their shadow. Rekkles is the only player that’s still playing in LEC from 2015 Fnatic’s legendary 18-0 run, and he’s still as amazing as he was back then. 2017 Worlds, singlehandedly grabbing his team that began 0-4 into the play-off stage. 2018, back to back domestic championships culminating in a worlds finale appearance. Caps has many of the same accomplishments, featuring in the same worlds finals as Rekkles, and despite being separated for 2 years, where Caps would win an MSI and 4 domestic trophies consecutively, they’re finally reunited after all this time. And a glorious reunion it has been, and will continue to be.

Kryze & Patrik

I really don’t want to recommend a “budget” ADC but Patrik has that “it”. He’s the sort of player that really could have been amazing if he wasn’t on a really mediocre team like XL, and he still can be. Dan as a jungler is really unfortunate, he’s likely the worst in the league, but Kryze and Patrik show Excel fans that they still have something to look forward to, and even Czekolad hasn’t been bad either. I highly recommend keeping an eye out for these two, because they really do have that “something”, that “potential” that people ambiguously refer to constantly.

Top Picks: Hans Sama, Rekkles, Upset

Yeah, it feels like we see the same names here all the time. I think the best thing I can offer is that all 3 of these guys are ADCs, and Upset is a newer name: although, I’m tired of bashing on Astralis constantly. These guys are all great ADCs, take your pick of two, I would recommend. I won’t waste anymore words here.

Top Value: Treatz, Jezu, Blue

I’m 100% not going to lie to you: something deep inside me tells me that SK is going to gap MAD Lions. Whether these players are “valuable” or not in a conventional sense isn’t really relevant to me: if you want to save money, buy and Rogue player. If SK’s Jenax can keep his cool against Armut, I really do think SK is going to roll MAD over. MAD look broken as a team and despite reeling into a 3-2 off some… questionable circumstances by FNC, they look like total impostors, whereas SK look like they can be solid if given a solid match-up against a fellow mid tier team. If you really want to gamble, look towards these guys; they’re really the bitcoin of the LEC.